christmas
Christmas At My House
2007/12/25 11:40 Filed in: Journal
This is the first year that my family has had
Christmas at my place. It is also the first time
I've had Christmas at my place, since moving
here to work at 3ABN in 1999. It was a little bit
stressful, since Christmas fell immediately on the
heels of the GYC convention. Getting home from GYC
was a challenge in itself. You can read all about it at the
end of my post about GYC on my Xanga blog.
I had hoped to have a Christmas tree, but a full week before Christmas all the local suppliers (including Wal-Mart, Menards, Home Depot, Lowe's) were completely sold out. I don't really care for artificial trees ... they just seem so fake ... so this year we went without a tree. Well, not completely. My rubber plant and ficus did extra duty as stand-ins.
My rubber plant decorated with Christmas lights — not too bad:
All the gifts around the plants:
Because Eugene and Heidi were in a hurry to get back to OHC, we had Christmas a day early this year, on Monday. So for me, it feels like Christmas is already past, even though today is Christmas.
Eugene and Heidi with their pile of winnings:
My mom and Heidi did most of the cooking, but I did contribute a little bit. I found a recipe for "Apple Cranberry Crisp," and made that. The ingredients in the mixing bowl looked so good, I had to take a picture. I may post the recipe later.
Granny Smith apples and cranberries — the two key ingredients in Apple Cranberry Crisp:
Heidi and Eugene purchased this beautiful bouquet that decorated our table:
We had a really nice and filling Christmas dinner. But I didn't get any photos of it. The photo below is from our much lighter supper.
Eugene, Heidi, and Mom:
Finally, in the evening we played a game of Rummikub, and then watched a video (The Privileged Planet). It was a fun day, and I really enjoyed the time with family. Seems like all too soon it was over.
I had hoped to have a Christmas tree, but a full week before Christmas all the local suppliers (including Wal-Mart, Menards, Home Depot, Lowe's) were completely sold out. I don't really care for artificial trees ... they just seem so fake ... so this year we went without a tree. Well, not completely. My rubber plant and ficus did extra duty as stand-ins.
My rubber plant decorated with Christmas lights — not too bad:
All the gifts around the plants:
Because Eugene and Heidi were in a hurry to get back to OHC, we had Christmas a day early this year, on Monday. So for me, it feels like Christmas is already past, even though today is Christmas.
Eugene and Heidi with their pile of winnings:
My mom and Heidi did most of the cooking, but I did contribute a little bit. I found a recipe for "Apple Cranberry Crisp," and made that. The ingredients in the mixing bowl looked so good, I had to take a picture. I may post the recipe later.
Granny Smith apples and cranberries — the two key ingredients in Apple Cranberry Crisp:
Heidi and Eugene purchased this beautiful bouquet that decorated our table:
We had a really nice and filling Christmas dinner. But I didn't get any photos of it. The photo below is from our much lighter supper.
Eugene, Heidi, and Mom:
Finally, in the evening we played a game of Rummikub, and then watched a video (The Privileged Planet). It was a fun day, and I really enjoyed the time with family. Seems like all too soon it was over.
|
Candy Cane Lane
2007/12/24 19:16 Filed in: Journal
Just before GYC, I was with my good ol' buddy from
LifeStyleTV, Claus Nybo. On
the way home that December 14, we stopped in
West Frankfort to look at Candy Cane Lane. Candy
Cane Lane is a series of streets that are
decorated for the Christmas holiday, and is an
annual tradition for the people of West
Frankfort. At the time we drove through, most of
the houses were not decorated very well, but the
final street was incredible. It was like a cross
between midwest lawn decorations and the Las
Vegas main drag. (See the video below.)
A section of one of the streets:
Here is a video I took on Claus's camera:
The music for this video was taken from this website. Ordinarily I would not think of the "1812 Overture" as Christmas music, and I almost chose another song. But in the end I thought the soundtrack matched the exuberant display perfectly. If I had more footage, I could have done something to synchronize with the music (especially the cannons!), but this was a quick and dirty job.
A section of one of the streets:
Here is a video I took on Claus's camera:
The music for this video was taken from this website. Ordinarily I would not think of the "1812 Overture" as Christmas music, and I almost chose another song. But in the end I thought the soundtrack matched the exuberant display perfectly. If I had more footage, I could have done something to synchronize with the music (especially the cannons!), but this was a quick and dirty job.